The present invention relates to an automatic money dispenser (AMD) operable with an identification card and a code word or a check.
German printed patent application (DT-AS) No. 2,020,031 discloses an on-line AMD wherein the customer's account card is used as an identification card. After insertion of the account card, input of the code number by hand, and a positive check of the entered data with the information stored in a central computer, data can be input as to whether and to what amount is to be paid out or in.
Since in the case of on-line AMD's the entered data can be checked very accurately by means of the central computer, and even very short-term changes in account balance can be immediately allowed for at all automatic dispensers to be operated, any unauthorized withdrawal or overdraft can be prevented relatively well despite the automatic dispensation of money.
During night hours as well as on Sundays and public holidays, the central computers are frequently switched off because of the reduced effective time of the computers, so the AMD's are operated in the off-line mode, which is less advantageous for the on-line AMD. As a result, the banks run a less well calculable risk. In addition, the use of account cards as identification cards permits only the customers of the bank operating the AMD (direct customers) to pay in or withdraw money. Noncustomers of the bank (indirect customers) are unable to use the AMD.
German published patent application (DT-OS) No. 2,302,020 discloses an AMD which can be continuously operated off-line at a consistently small risk with an identification card and the input of a document, e.g. a check. The identification cards and checks have particular safety marks which are checked in the dispenser for agreement and genuineness. In this case, the use of supranational identification cards and checks makes it possible for both direct and indirect customers to use the AMD, but this involves, for both customers, the inconvenience of entering a document instead of keying-in a code number, which is frequently preferred. This reference is incorporated by reference to show portions of the invention that are known per se.